Amleþ:Læst 1
Sceadu 1. Elsinore. Yppe fore þǣm castele. FRANCISCO at his post. Enter to him BERNARDO ;Bernardo :Hwā þā?! ;Francisco :Nā, andswara mē: stand, and unfeald þec selfne. ;Bernardo :Lange libbe se cyning! ;Francisco :Bernardo? ;Bernardo :Hē. ;Francisco :Þu cymst geornfullīcost on þīnre stunde. ;Bernardo :Nū slōg twelf; gā þu tō bedde, Francisco. ;Francisco :Þanc for þisse līhtunge: is oferceald, :and ic eom mōdsēoc. ;Bernardo :Wæs þīn wacen stillu? ;Francisco :Eall mūsstille. ;Bernardo :Wel, gōde nihte. :Gif þu mētest Horatio and Marcellus, :Þā geferan mīnre wacene, hāt hīe fȳsan. ;Francisco :Ic gelīefe, ic hīe hīere. Stand, ho! Hwā þā? Ingǣþ HORATIO and MARCELLUS ;Horatio :Frīend þissum grunde. ;Marcellus :And holdmenn tō þǣm Deniscan. ;Francisco :Habbaþ gōde nihte. ;Marcellus :O, farewell, honest soldier: :Who hath relieved you? ;Francisco :Bernardo hæfþ mīnne stede. :Hafa gōde nihte. Ūtgang ;Marcellus :Holla! Bernardo! ;Bernardo :Say, :What, is Horatio there? ;Horatio :A piece of him. ;Bernardo :Welcome, Horatio: welcome, good Marcellus. ;Marcellus :What, has this thing appear'd again to-night? ;Bernardo :I have seen nothing. ;Marcellus :Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy, :And will not let belief take hold of him :Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us: :Therefore I have entreated him along :With us to watch the minutes of this night; :That if again this apparition come, :He may approve our eyes and speak to it. ;Horatio :Tush, tush, 'twill not appear. ;Bernardo :Sit down awhile; :And let us once again assail your ears, :That are so fortified against our story :What we have two nights seen. ;Horatio :Well, sit we down, :And let us hear Bernardo speak of this. ;Bernardo :Last night of all, :When yond same star that's westward from the pole :Had made his course to illume that part of heaven :Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself, :The bell then beating one,-- Enter Ghost ;Marcellus :Peace, break thee off; look, where it comes again! ;Bernardo :In the same figure, like the king that's dead. ;Marcellus :Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio. ;Bernardo :Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio. ;Horatio :Most like: it harrows me with fear and wonder. ;Bernardo :It would be spoke to. ;Marcellus :Question it, Horatio. ;Horatio :What art thou that usurp'st this time of night, :Together with that fair and warlike form :In which the majesty of buried Denmark :Did sometimes march? by heaven I charge thee, speak! ;Marcellus :It is offended. ;Bernardo :See, it stalks away! ;Horatio :Stay! speak, speak! I charge thee, speak! Exit Ghost ;Marcellus :'Tis gone, and will not answer. ;Bernardo :How now, Horatio! you tremble and look pale: :Is not this something more than fantasy? :What think you on't? ;Horatio :Before my God, I might not this believe :Without the sensible and true avouch :Of mine own eyes. ;Marcellus :Nis hē gelīc þǣm cyninge?! ;Horatio :As thou art to thyself: :Such was the very armour he had on :When he the ambitious Norway combated; :So frown'd he once, when, in an angry parle, :He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice. :'Tis strange. ;Marcellus :Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour, :With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch. ;Horatio :In what particular thought to work I know not; :But in the gross and scope of my opinion, :This bodes some strange eruption to our state. ;Marcellus :Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that knows, :Why this same strict and most observant watch :So nightly toils the subject of the land, :And why such daily cast of brazen cannon, :And foreign mart for implements of war; :Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task :Does not divide the Sunday from the week; :What might be toward, that this sweaty haste :Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day: :Who is't that can inform me? ;Horatio :That can I; :At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king, :Whose image even but now appear'd to us, :Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, :Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate pride, :Dared to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet-- :For so this side of our known world esteem'd him-- :Did slay this Fortinbras; who by a seal'd compact, :Well ratified by law and heraldry, :Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands :Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror: :Against the which, a moiety competent :Was gaged by our king; which had return'd :To the inheritance of Fortinbras, :Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same covenant, :And carriage of the article design'd, :His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras, :Of unimproved mettle hot and full, :Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there :Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes, :For food and diet, to some enterprise :That hath a stomach in't; which is no other-- :As it doth well appear unto our state-- :But to recover of us, by strong hand :And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands :So by his father lost: and this, I take it, :Is the main motive of our preparations, :The source of this our watch and the chief head :Of this post-haste and romage in the land. ;Bernardo :I think it be no other but e'en so: :Well may it sort that this portentous figure :Comes armed through our watch; so like the king :That was and is the question of these wars. ;Horatio :A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye. :In the most high and palmy state of Rome, :A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, :The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead :Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets: :As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood, :Disasters in the sun; and the moist star :Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands :Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse: :And even the like precurse of fierce events, :As harbingers preceding still the fates :And prologue to the omen coming on, :Have heaven and earth together demonstrated :Unto our climatures and countrymen.-- :But soft, behold! lo, where it comes again! Re-enter Ghost :I'll cross it, though it blast me. Stay, illusion! :If thou hast any sound, or use of voice, :Speak to me: :If there be any good thing to be done, :That may to thee do ease and grace to me, :Speak to me: Cock crows :If thou art privy to thy country's fate, :Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid, O, speak! :Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life :Extorted treasure in the womb of earth, :For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death, :Speak of it: stay, and speak! Stop it, Marcellus. ;Marcellus :Shall I strike at it with my partisan? ;Horatio :Dō, gif hē nelle standan. ;Bernardo :'Tis hēr! ;Horatio :'Tis hēr! ;Marcellus :'Tis gone! Exit Ghost :We do it wrong, being so majestical, :To offer it the show of violence; :For it is, as the air, invulnerable, :And our vain blows malicious mockery. ;Bernardo :Hē wæs tōweard tō sprecenne, hwonne se cocca crēow. ;Horatio :And then it started like a guilty thing :Upon a fearful summons. I have heard, :The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, :Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat :Awake the god of day; and, at his warning, :Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, :The extravagant and erring spirit hies :To his confine: and of the truth herein :This present object made probation. ;Marcellus :It faded on the crowing of the cock. :Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes :Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, :The bird of dawning singeth all night long: :And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad; :The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, :No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, :So hallow'd and so gracious is the time. ;Horatio :So have I heard and do in part believe it. :But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, :Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill: :Break we our watch up; and by my advice, :Let us impart what we have seen to-night :Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life, :This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him. :Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it, :As needful in our loves, fitting our duty? ;Marcellus :Let's do't, I pray; and I this morning know :Where we shall find him most conveniently. Exeunt Sceadu 2. A room of state in the castle. Enter KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, HAMLET, POLONIUS, LAERTES, VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, Lords, and Attendants ;King Claudius :Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death :The memory be green, and that it us befitted :To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom :To be contracted in one brow of woe, :Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature :That we with wisest sorrow think on him, :Together with remembrance of ourselves. :Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen, :The imperial jointress to this warlike state, :Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,-- :With an auspicious and a dropping eye, :With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage, :In equal scale weighing delight and dole,-- :Taken to wife: nor have we herein barr'd :Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone :With this affair along. For all, our thanks. :Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras, :Holding a weak supposal of our worth, :Or thinking by our late dear brother's death :Our state to be disjoint and out of frame, :Colleagued with the dream of his advantage, :He hath not fail'd to pester us with message, :Importing the surrender of those lands :Lost by his father, with all bonds of law, :To our most valiant brother. So much for him. :Now for ourself and for this time of meeting: :Thus much the business is: we have here writ :To Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras,-- :Who, impotent and bed-rid, scarcely hears :Of this his nephew's purpose,--to suppress :His further gait herein; in that the levies, :The lists and full proportions, are all made :Out of his subject: and we here dispatch :You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand, :For bearers of this greeting to old Norway; :Giving to you no further personal power :To business with the king, more than the scope :Of these delated articles allow. :Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty. ;Cornelius ;Voltimand :In that and all things will we show our duty. ;King Claudius :We doubt it nothing: heartily farewell. Exeunt VOLTIMAND and CORNELIUS :And now, Laertes, what's the news with you? :You told us of some suit; what is't, Laertes? :You cannot speak of reason to the Dane, :And loose your voice: what wouldst thou beg, Laertes, :That shall not be my offer, not thy asking? :The head is not more native to the heart, :The hand more instrumental to the mouth, :Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father. :What wouldst thou have, Laertes? ;Laertes :My dread lord, :Your leave and favour to return to France; :From whence though willingly I came to Denmark, :To show my duty in your coronation, :Yet now, I must confess, that duty done, :My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France :And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon. ;King Claudius :Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius? ;Lord Polonius :He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave :By laboursome petition, and at last :Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent: :I do beseech you, give him leave to go. ;King Claudius :Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine, :And thy best graces spend it at thy will! :But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son,-- ;Hamlet :Aside A little more than kin, and less than kind. ;King Claudius :How is it that the clouds still hang on you? ;Hamlet :Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun. ;Queen Gertrude :Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off, :And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. :Do not for ever with thy vailed lids :Seek for thy noble father in the dust: :Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die, :Passing through nature to eternity. ;Hamlet :Ay, madam, it is common. ;Queen Gertrude :If it be, :Why seems it so particular with thee? ;Hamlet :Seems, madam! nay it is; I know not 'seems.' :'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, :Nor customary suits of solemn black, :Nor windy suspiration of forced breath, :No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, :Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage, :Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief, :That can denote me truly: these indeed seem, :For they are actions that a man might play: :But I have that within which passeth show; :These but the trappings and the suits of woe. ;King Claudius :'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, :To give these mourning duties to your father: :But, you must know, your father lost a father; :That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound :In filial obligation for some term :To do obsequious sorrow: but to persever :In obstinate condolement is a course :Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief; :It shows a will most incorrect to heaven, :A heart unfortified, a mind impatient, :An understanding simple and unschool'd: :For what we know must be and is as common :As any the most vulgar thing to sense, :Why should we in our peevish opposition :Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven, :A fault against the dead, a fault to nature, :To reason most absurd: whose common theme :Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried, :From the first corse till he that died to-day, :'This must be so.' We pray you, throw to earth :This unprevailing woe, and think of us :As of a father: for let the world take note, :You are the most immediate to our throne; :And with no less nobility of love :Than that which dearest father bears his son, :Do I impart toward you. For your intent :In going back to school in Wittenberg, :It is most retrograde to our desire: :And we beseech you, bend you to remain :Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye, :Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son. ;Queen Gertrude :Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet: :I pray thee, stay with us; go not to Wittenberg. ;Hamlet :I shall in all my best obey you, madam. ;King Claudius :Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply: :Be as ourself in Denmark. Madam, come; :This gentle and unforced accord of Hamlet :Sits smiling to my heart: in grace whereof, :No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day, :But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell, :And the king's rouse the heavens all bruit again, :Re-speaking earthly thunder. Come away. Exeunt all but HAMLET ;Hamlet :O, that this too too solid flesh would melt :Thaw and resolve itself into a dew! :Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd :His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God! :How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, :Seem to me all the uses of this world! :Fie on't! ah fie! 'tis an unweeded garden, :That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature :Possess it merely. That it should come to this! :But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two: :So excellent a king; that was, to this, :Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother :That he might not beteem the winds of heaven :Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth! :Must I remember? why, she would hang on him, :As if increase of appetite had grown :By what it fed on: and yet, within a month-- :Let me not think on't--Frailty, thy name is woman!-- :A little month, or ere those shoes were old :With which she follow'd my poor father's body, :Like Niobe, all tears:--why she, even she-- :O, God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason, :Would have mourn'd longer--married with my uncle, :My father's brother, but no more like my father :Than I to Hercules: within a month: :Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears :Had left the flushing in her galled eyes, :She married. O, most wicked speed, to post :With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! :It is not nor it cannot come to good: :But break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue. Enter HORATIO, MARCELLUS, and BERNARDO ;Horatio :Hail to your lordship! ;Hamlet :I am glad to see you well: :Horatio,--or I do forget myself. ;Horatio :The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever. ;Hamlet :Sir, my good friend; I'll change that name with you: :And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio? Marcellus? ;Marcellus :My good lord-- ;Hamlet :I am very glad to see you. Good even, sir. :But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg? ;Horatio :A truant disposition, good my lord. ;Hamlet :I would not hear your enemy say so, :Nor shall you do mine ear that violence, :To make it truster of your own report :Against yourself: I know you are no truant. :But what is your affair in Elsinore? :We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart. ;Horatio :My lord, I came to see your father's funeral. ;Hamlet :I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow-student; :I think it was to see my mother's wedding. ;Horatio :Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon. ;Hamlet :Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral baked meats :Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables. :Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven :Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio! :My father!--methinks I see my father. ;Horatio :Where, my lord? ;Hamlet :In my mind's eye, Horatio. ;Horatio :I saw him once; he was a goodly king. ;Hamlet :He was a man, take him for all in all, :I shall not look upon his like again. ;Horatio :My lord, I think I saw him yesternight. ;Hamlet :Saw? who? ;Horatio :My lord, the king your father. ;Hamlet :The king my father! ;Horatio :Season your admiration for awhile :With an attent ear, till I may deliver, :Upon the witness of these gentlemen, :This marvel to you. ;Hamlet :For God's love, let me hear. ;Horatio :Two nights together had these gentlemen, :Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch, :In the dead vast and middle of the night, :Been thus encounter'd. A figure like your father, :Armed at point exactly, cap-a-pe, :Appears before them, and with solemn march :Goes slow and stately by them: thrice he walk'd :By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes, :Within his truncheon's length; whilst they, distilled :Almost to jelly with the act of fear, :Stand dumb and speak not to him. This to me :In dreadful secrecy impart they did; :And I with them the third night kept the watch; :Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time, :Form of the thing, each word made true and good, :The apparition comes: I knew your father; :These hands are not more like. ;Hamlet :But where was this? ;Marcellus :My lord, upon the platform where we watch'd. ;Hamlet :Did you not speak to it? ;Horatio :My lord, I did; :But answer made it none: yet once methought :It lifted up its head and did address :Itself to motion, like as it would speak; :But even then the morning cock crew loud, :And at the sound it shrunk in haste away, :And vanish'd from our sight. ;Hamlet :'Tis very strange. ;Horatio :As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis true; :And we did think it writ down in our duty :To let you know of it. ;Hamlet :Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me. :Hold you the watch to-night? ;Marcellus ;Bernardo :We do, my lord. ;Hamlet :Arm'd, say you? ;Marcellus ;Bernardo :Arm'd, my lord. ;Hamlet :From top to toe? ;Marcellus ;Bernardo :My lord, from head to foot. ;Hamlet :Then saw you not his face? ;Horatio :O, yes, my lord; he wore his beaver up. ;Hamlet :What, look'd he frowningly? ;Horatio :A countenance more in sorrow than in anger. ;Hamlet :Pale or red? ;Horatio :Nay, very pale. ;Hamlet :And fix'd his eyes upon you? ;Horatio :Most constantly. ;Hamlet :I would I had been there. ;Horatio :It would have much amazed you. ;Hamlet :Very like, very like. Stay'd it long? ;Horatio :While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred. ;Marcellus ;Bernardo :Longer, longer. ;Horatio :Not when I saw't. ;Hamlet :His beard was grizzled--no? ;Horatio :It was, as I have seen it in his life, :A sable silver'd. ;Hamlet :I will watch to-night; :Perchance 'twill walk again. ;Horatio :I warrant it will. ;Hamlet :If it assume my noble father's person, :I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape :And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all, :If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight, :Let it be tenable in your silence still; :And whatsoever else shall hap to-night, :Give it an understanding, but no tongue: :I will requite your loves. So, fare you well: :Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve, :I'll visit you. ;All :Our duty to your honour. ;Hamlet :Your loves, as mine to you: farewell. Exeunt all but HAMLET :My father's spirit in arms! all is not well; :I doubt some foul play: would the night were come! :Till then sit still, my soul: foul deeds will rise, :Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes. Exit Sceadu 3. A room in Polonius' hūse. Ingǣþ LAERTES and OPHELIA ;Laertes :My necessaries are embark'd: farewell: :And, sister, as the winds give benefit :And convoy is assistant, do not sleep, :But let me hear from you. ;Ophelia :Do you doubt that? ;Laertes :For Hamlet and the trifling of his favour, :Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood, :A violet in the youth of primy nature, :Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting, :The perfume and suppliance of a minute; No more. ;Ophelia :No more but so? ;Laertes :Think it no more; :For nature, crescent, does not grow alone :In thews and bulk, but, as this temple waxes, :The inward service of the mind and soul :Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves you now, :And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch :The virtue of his will: but you must fear, :His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own; :For he himself is subject to his birth: :He may not, as unvalued persons do, :Carve for himself; for on his choice depends :The safety and health of this whole state; :And therefore must his choice be circumscribed :Unto the voice and yielding of that body :Whereof he is the head. Then if he says he loves you, :It fits your wisdom so far to believe it :As he in his particular act and place :May give his saying deed; which is no further :Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal. :Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain, :If with too credent ear you list his songs, :Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open :To his unmaster'd importunity. :Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister, :And keep you in the rear of your affection, :Out of the shot and danger of desire. :The chariest maid is prodigal enough, :If she unmask her beauty to the moon: :Virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes: :The canker galls the infants of the spring, :Too oft before their buttons be disclosed, :And in the morn and liquid dew of youth :Contagious blastments are most imminent. :Be wary then; best safety lies in fear: :Youth to itself rebels, though none else near. ;Ophelia :I shall the effect of this good lesson keep, :As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother, :Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, :Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven; :Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine, :Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, :And recks not his own rede. ;Laertes :O, fear me not. :I stay too long: but here my father comes. Enter POLONIUS :A double blessing is a double grace, :Occasion smiles upon a second leave. ;Lord Polonius :Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame! :The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail, :And you are stay'd for. There; my blessing with thee! :And these few precepts in thy memory :See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, :Nor any unproportioned thought his act. :Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. :Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, :Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel; :But do not dull thy palm with entertainment :Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware :Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, :Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee. :Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; :Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. :Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, :But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy; :For the apparel oft proclaims the man, :And they in France of the best rank and station :Are of a most select and generous chief in that. :Neither a borrower nor a lender be; :For loan oft loses both itself and friend, :And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. :This above all: to thine ownself be true, :And it must follow, as the night the day, :Thou canst not then be false to any man. :Farewell: my blessing season this in thee! ;Laertes :Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord. ;Lord Polonius :The time invites you; go; your servants tend. ;Laertes :Farewell, Ophelia; and remember well :Hwæt ic þē tō sægde. ;Ophelia :'Tis in my memory lock'd, :And you yourself shall keep the key of it. ;Laertes :Farewell. Exit ;Lord Polonius :What is't, Ophelia, be hath said to you? ;Ophelia :So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet. ;Lord Polonius :Marry, well bethought: :'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late :Given private time to you; and you yourself :Have of your audience been most free and bounteous: :If it be so, as so 'tis put on me, :And that in way of caution, I must tell you, :You do not understand yourself so clearly :As it behoves my daughter and your honour. :What is between you? give me up the truth. ;Ophelia :He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders :Of his affection to me. ;Lord Polonius :Affection! pooh! you speak like a green girl, :Unsifted in such perilous circumstance. :Do you believe his tenders, as you call them? ;Ophelia :I do not know, my lord, what I should think. ;Lord Polonius :Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby; :That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay, :Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly; :Or--not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, :Running it thus--you'll tender me a fool. ;Ophelia :My lord, he hath importuned me with love :In honourable fashion. ;Lord Polonius :Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to. ;Ophelia :And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord, :With almost all the holy vows of heaven. ;Lord Polonius :Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know, :When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul :Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter, :Giving more light than heat, extinct in both, :Even in their promise, as it is a-making, :You must not take for fire. From this time :Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence; :Set your entreatments at a higher rate :Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet, :Believe so much in him, that he is young :And with a larger tether may he walk :Than may be given you: in few, Ophelia, :Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers, :Not of that dye which their investments show, :But mere implorators of unholy suits, :Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds, :The better to beguile. This is for all: :I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth, :Have you so slander any moment leisure, :As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet. :Look to't, I charge you: come your ways. ;Ophelia :I shall obey, my lord. Exeunt Sceadu 4. The platform. Enter HAMLET, HORATIO, and MARCELLUS ;Hamlet :The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold. ;Horatio :It is a nipping and an eager air. ;Hamlet :What hour now? ;Horatio :I think it lacks of twelve. ;Hamlet :No, it is struck. ;Horatio :Indeed? I heard it not: then it draws near the season :Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk. A flourish of trumpets, and ordnance shot off, within :What does this mean, my lord? ;Hamlet :The king doth wake to-night and takes his rouse, :Keeps wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels; :And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down, :The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out :The triumph of his pledge. ;Horatio :Is it a custom? ;Hamlet :Ay, marry, is't: :But to my mind, though I am native here :And to the manner born, it is a custom :More honour'd in the breach than the observance. :This heavy-headed revel east and west :Makes us traduced and tax'd of other nations: :They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase :Soil our addition; and indeed it takes :From our achievements, though perform'd at height, :The pith and marrow of our attribute. :So, oft it chances in particular men, :That for some vicious mole of nature in them, :As, in their birth--wherein they are not guilty, :Since nature cannot choose his origin-- :By the o'ergrowth of some complexion, :Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason, :Or by some habit that too much o'er-leavens :The form of plausive manners, that these men, :Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect, :Being nature's livery, or fortune's star,-- :Their virtues else--be they as pure as grace, :As infinite as man may undergo-- :Shall in the general censure take corruption :From that particular fault: the dram of eale :Doth all the noble substance of a doubt :To his own scandal. ;Horatio :Look, my lord, it comes! Enter Ghost ;Hamlet :Angels and ministers of grace defend us! :Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd, :Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell, :Be thy intents wicked or charitable, :Thou comest in such a questionable shape :That I will speak to thee: I'll call thee Hamlet, :King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me! :Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell :Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death, :Have burst their cerements; why the sepulchre, :Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd, :Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws, :To cast thee up again. What may this mean, :That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel :Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon, :Making night hideous; and we fools of nature :So horridly to shake our disposition :With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls? :Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do? beckons HAMLET ;HORATIO :It beckons you to go away with it, :As if it some impartment did desire :To you alone. ;MARCELLUS :Look, with what courteous action :It waves you to a more removed ground: :But do not go with it. ;HORATIO :No, by no means. ;HAMLET :It will not speak; then I will follow it. ;HORATIO :Do not, my lord. ;HAMLET :Why, what should be the fear? :I do not set my life in a pin's fee; :And for my soul, what can it do to that, :Being a thing immortal as itself? :It waves me forth again: I'll follow it. ;HORATIO :What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord, :Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff :That beetles o'er his base into the sea, :And there assume some other horrible form, :Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason :And draw you into madness? think of it: :The very place puts toys of desperation, :Without more motive, into every brain :That looks so many fathoms to the sea :And hears it roar beneath. ;HAMLET :It waves me still. :Go on; I'll follow thee. ;MARCELLUS :You shall not go, my lord. ;HAMLET :Hold off your hands. ;HORATIO :Be ruled; you shall not go. ;HAMLET :My fate cries out, :And makes each petty artery in this body :As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve. :Still am I call'd. Unhand me, gentlemen. :By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me! :I say, away! Go on; I'll follow thee. Gāst and HAMLET ;HORATIO :He waxes desperate with imagination. ;MARCELLUS :Uton folgian; 'tis not fit thus to obey him. ;HORATIO :Have after. To what issue will this come? ;MARCELLUS :Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. ;HORATIO :Heaven will direct it. ;MARCELLUS :Nā, uton him folgian. Exeunt Sceadu 5. Ōðer dǣl þǣre yppan. Enter Ghost and Hamlet ;Hamlet :Where wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll go no further. ;Ghost :Mark me. ;Hamlet :I will. ;Ghost :My hour is almost come, :When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames :Must render up myself. ;Hamlet :Alas, poor ghost! ;Ghost :Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing :To what I shall unfold. ;Hamlet :Speak; I am bound to hear. ;Ghost :So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. ;Hamlet :What? ;Ghost :I am thy father's spirit, :Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night, :And for the day confined to fast in fires, :Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature :Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid :To tell the secrets of my prison-house, :I could a tale unfold whose lightest word :Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, :Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, :Thy knotted and combined locks to part :And each particular hair to stand on end, :Like quills upon the fretful porpentine: :But this eternal blazon must not be :To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list! :If thou didst ever thy dear father love-- ;Hamlet :O God! ;Ghost :Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. ;Hamlet :Murder! ;Ghost :Murder most foul, as in the best it is; :But this most foul, strange and unnatural. ;Hamlet :Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift :As meditation or the thoughts of love, :May sweep to my revenge. ;Ghost :I find thee apt; :And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed :That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, :Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear: :'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, :A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark :Is by a forged process of my death :Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth, :The serpent that did sting thy father's life :Now wears his crown. ;Hamlet :O my prophetic soul! My uncle! ;Ghost :Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, :With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,-- :O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power :So to seduce!--won to his shameful lust :The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen: :O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there! :From me, whose love was of that dignity :That it went hand in hand even with the vow :I made to her in marriage, and to decline :Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor :To those of mine! :But virtue, as it never will be moved, :Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven, :So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd, :Will sate itself in a celestial bed, :And prey on garbage. :But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air; :Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard, :My custom always of the afternoon, :Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole, :With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial, :And in the porches of my ears did pour :The leperous distilment; whose effect :Holds such an enmity with blood of man :That swift as quicksilver it courses through :The natural gates and alleys of the body, :And with a sudden vigour doth posset :And curd, like eager droppings into milk, :The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine; :And a most instant tetter bark'd about, :Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust, :All my smooth body. :Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand :Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd: :Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, :Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd, :No reckoning made, but sent to my account :With all my imperfections on my head: :O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible! :If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not; :Let not the royal bed of Denmark be :A couch for luxury and damned incest. :But, howsoever thou pursuest this act, :Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive :Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven :And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge, :To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once! :The glow-worm shows the matin to be near, :And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire: :Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me. Exit ;Hamlet :O all you host of heaven! O earth! what else? :And shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, hold, my heart; :And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, :But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee! :Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat :In this distracted globe. Remember thee! :Yea, from the table of my memory :I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, :All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, :That youth and observation copied there; :And thy commandment all alone shall live :Within the book and volume of my brain, :Unmix'd with baser matter: yes, by heaven! :O most pernicious woman! :O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! :My tables,--meet it is I set it down, :That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain; :At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark: Writing :So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word; :It is 'Adieu, adieu! remember me.' :I have sworn 't. ;Marcellus ;Horatio :Within My lord, my lord,-- ;Marcellus :Within Lord Hamlet,-- ;Horatio :Within Heaven secure him! ;Hamlet :So be it! ;Horatio :Within Hillo, ho, ho, my lord! ;Hamlet :Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come. Enter Horatio and Marcellus ;Marcellus :How is't, my noble lord? ;Horatio :What news, my lord? ;Hamlet :O, wonderful! ;Horatio :Good my lord, tell it. ;Hamlet :No; you'll reveal it. ;Horatio :Not I, my lord, by heaven. ;Marcellus :Nor I, my lord. ;Hamlet :How say you, then; would heart of man once think it? :But you'll be secret? ;Horatio ;Marcellus :Ay, by heaven, my lord. ;Hamlet :There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark :But he's an arrant knave. ;Horatio :There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave :To tell us this. ;Hamlet :Why, right; you are i' the right; :And so, without more circumstance at all, :I hold it fit that we shake hands and part: :You, as your business and desire shall point you; :For every man has business and desire, :Such as it is; and for mine own poor part, :Look you, I'll go pray. ;Horatio :These are but wild and whirling words, my lord. ;Hamlet :I'm sorry they offend you, heartily; :Yes, 'faith heartily. ;Horatio :There's no offence, my lord. ;Hamlet :Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, Horatio, :And much offence too. Touching this vision here, :It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you: :For your desire to know what is between us, :O'ermaster 't as you may. And now, good friends, :As you are friends, scholars and soldiers, :Give me one poor request. ;Horatio :What is't, my lord? we will. ;Hamlet :Never make known what you have seen to-night. ;Horatio ;Marcellus :My lord, we will not. ;Hamlet :Nay, but swear't. ;Horatio :In faith, :My lord, not I. ;Marcellus :Nor I, my lord, in faith. ;Hamlet :Upon my sword. ;Marcellus :We have sworn, my lord, already. ;Hamlet :Indeed, upon my sword, indeed. ;Ghost :Beneath Swear. ;Hamlet :Ah, ha, boy! say'st thou so? art thou there, :truepenny? :Come on--you hear this fellow in the cellarage-- :Consent to swear. ;Horatio :Propose the oath, my lord. ;Hamlet :Never to speak of this that you have seen, :Swear by my sword. ;Ghost :Beneath Swear. ;Hamlet :Hic et ubique? then we'll shift our ground. :Come hither, gentlemen, :And lay your hands again upon my sword: :Never to speak of this that you have heard, :Swear by my sword. ;Ghost :Beneath Swear. ;Hamlet :Well said, old mole! canst work i' the earth so fast? :A worthy pioner! Once more remove, good friends. ;Horatio :O day and night, but this is wondrous strange! ;Hamlet :And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. :There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, :Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come; :Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, :How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself, :As I perchance hereafter shall think meet :To put an antic disposition on, :That you, at such times seeing me, never shall, :With arms encumber'd thus, or this headshake, :Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase, :As 'Well, well, we know,' or 'We could, an if we would,' :Or 'If we list to speak,' or 'There be, an if they might,' :Or such ambiguous giving out, to note :That you know aught of me: this not to do, :So grace and mercy at your most need help you, Swear. ;Ghost :Beneath Swear. ;Hamlet :Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! They swear :So, gentlemen, :With all my love I do commend me to you: :And what so poor a man as Hamlet is :May do, to express his love and friending to you, :God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together; :And still your fingers on your lips, I pray. :The time is out of joint: O cursed spite, :That ever I was born to set it right! :Nay, come, let's go together. Exeunt 1